1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to scrapers for scraping material from cards, passes, or tickets and, in one specific aspect, to methods and devices for scraping coatings, e.g. butyl coatings, from lottery tickets.
2. Description of Related Art
A variety of coupons, game cards and lottery tickets have a portion which is covered by an opaque coating. By scraping the coating away a person sees what is shown or printed beneath the coating. The prior art reveals several devices and methods for removing this coating; for example, coins, knives, nail files, credit cards, and any device with a sharp edge, as well as the devices described below. None of these recognizes or addresses the problem presented by the undesirable dissemination of the coating material, particularly hazardous and/or carcinogenic material, to food storage and serving areas or to personnel in the area.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,842 discloses a ticket cleaner apparatus which removes a coating from the surface of a game ticket to reveal or expose characters on the ticket. The apparatus includes: a housing which includes an opening to receive the ticket; a rotatable cleaning element supported within the housing; positioning means adapted to position the ticket within the housing so that the coating on the ticket is in contact with the cleaning element; and power means which is adapted to rotate the cleaning element while in contact with the coating on the ticket.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,382 discloses a hand-held ticket scraper with a portion which is pressed down on the ticket as the ticket is moved to scrape away a coating.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,816 discloses fingernail cleaning apparatus that includes an electric motor with a drive shaft. A bristle brush is drivably connected to the motor drive shaft for rotation therewith. A reservoir for a cleaning liquid is positioned beneath the brush so that the bristles of the brush are rotatable within the confines of the reservoir. A base supports the motor and has partitions or supports for the drive shaft and brush. A housing encloses at least the brush and reservoir so as to shield the motor and the user of the apparatus from any spray of cleaning liquid generated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,107,807 discloses a portable, tack cleaning machine having a housing which supports a horizontally-mounted rotary, cylindrical feeder-brush at least partially immersed in a cleaning fluid tank located in the bottom of the housing, and a rotary, scrubbing brush vertically mounted above and in contact with the feeder-brush. The brushes are powered by electric motors using an ordinary 60-cycle outlet as a power source. The housing has entrance and exit openings located adjacent the interface of the two brushes. In addition, the housing is hinged on one side along its longitudinal axis providing access to the brushes, tank, and driving assembly. A control clip is also disclosed for grasping and guiding a piece of tack to be cleaned through the machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,117,333 discloses a device for cleaning dust from microfilm frames mounted in data storage or processing cards. The device has a card feeding mechanism for feeding cards seriatim from a stack of cards in a supply tray to a conveyor mechanism for advancing the cards into contact with a pair of rotating brushes for removing dust particles from the cards and from the film mounted therein, the brushes mounted in an area in which a constantly reversing electrostatic field is generated to damp out or neutralize the static charge on the cards, means being provided to create a reduced pressure zone around the brushes to aid in the removal of dust particles from the cards.
U.S. Ser. Nos. 329,863; 325,916; and 235,328 disclose devices with rotating brushes mounted in housings for salvaging and saving gold leaf and particles normally wasted in book inscription and gilting processes.
There has long been a need for an effective ticket scraper which inhibits the spread of hazardous coating materials. There has long been a need for an efficient ticket scraper which is attractive to its users and which provides interactive communication with its users.